Two For One
by Shire hobbit
Summary: Response to a Valentine's Day challenge. Frodo ends up escorting two girls to a party. Even though he doesn't want to.... Just a short, cute little story....


**Disclaimer: Don't own any characters (well, except Crystal and Sunny), or settings, or anything like that.**

A/N: This story was the result of a Valentine's Day challenge over at the Yahoo! group MagicalShire FanFiction. The challenge was to either have the hobbits get smitten with or girl, or else to have a girl (or in this case, two) get smitten with the hobbits.

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Two For One

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Frodo looked in the mirror nervously. It may be a party, but he didn't want to dress too nicely. Actually, he really didn't want to go. His idea of a party was to have fun and celebrate. Not spend the evening dodging the twins visiting from Buckland.

This party wasn't commemorating anything; it was more or less just a very large social gathering. Frodo's cousins, Merry and Pippin, had been invited, and had unfortunately brought with them two young twin lasses whose parents had insisted they come. Frodo knew why, too. Their mother was trying to get the twins married. Or at least meet some lads who might be interested. And for the moment, the twins seemed to have their eyes on Frodo and Sam.

A gentle knock on the door startled Frodo out of his thoughts.

"Come on in, Bilbo," Frodo sighed. The door opened and Bilbo stepped in, smiling. Frodo turned to face him, grumbling, "Do I really have to go tonight?"

"Well, no," Bilbo started. "Nobody's forcing you to go to the party." His tone suggested disappointment. "But I really think you should go and try to have a good time." Frodo simply turned back to look in the mirror. "Come on, Frodo, everyone loves a good party."

"I do enjoy going to parties," Frodo admitted. "But . . . well, you know why I don't want to go. It's Crystal and Sunny . . . I don't want to spend the whole night avoiding them."

"Then don't avoid them," Bilbo offered jokingly. Frodo simply turned to him again, glaring. Bilbo couldn't help but start to laugh. He understood how Frodo felt. Those two lasses were quite a handful. "Alright, alright, Frodo. If you don't want to go, then don't go. But just remember that tomorrow when people ask why you weren't there, you'll have to tell them."

Frodo grimaced. That was certainly something he didn't want to do. He could lie. But he really didn't want to. Finally, he nodded, and said with an air of defeat, "Alright, I'll go."

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As Frodo and Bilbo were walking down the lane, headed towards the party, he saw Sam off in the distance. He was just about to call out to his friend when suddenly someone called his name. He froze. He knew that voice. He gave Bilbo a quick, 'I shouldn't have come' look, then put a smile on his face and turned to the twins. "Hello Crystal, Sunny," he addressed each of them respectively.

"Well, I'm off," Bilbo said in a hurry. "You children have fun now."

Frodo opened his mouth to shout out to him, but Bilbo was already almost to the party. He sighed. Bilbo didn't want to get caught up in this. He understood. But he really didn't want to be left alone with the two. But, there was nothing he could do about it. Except catch up with Sam so he wouldn't have to have both twins googling at him.

"Shall we go to the party?" He asked, holding out both arms, which were both quickly taken.

"I'm so glad you've come to the party," Sunny smiled at him.

"Me, too," Crystal added. "I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't come. I mean, besides Merry and Pippin, we don't know anyone else."

"What about Sam?" Frodo asked curiously. Since they had met two days ago, Crystal had been following Sam wherever he went.

"Oh, he's already escorting a lass to the party," Sunny replied, almost reluctantly.

"Yes, and we certainly don't want to bother him," Crystal added, sounding as if that had been obvious. "We wouldn't want her to get jealous."

The twins rambled on, talking about this and that, but Frodo effortlessly tuned them out while he thought about who Sam would have asked to the party. Sure, he liked Rosie, he had always liked Rosie, but Frodo also knew that Sam lacked the confidence to ask to be her escort. "Frodo?" Sunny almost sounded angry.

"Hmm?" Frodo responded, confused.

"You haven't been listening to a word either of us have said," Sunny rolled her eyes. "I asked you if you like petunias."

"Oh, uh, well, sure," was Frodo's simple reply. However, not wanting to be rude, he apologized. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something else."

"Like what?" Crystal asked. She picked an apple up off of a table and took a bite.

"Nothing too important," Frodo smiled, avoiding the question. He shrugged the twins off his arms, "Now, how about I go get us all something to drink." The twins nodded and quickly started a conversation amongst themselves.

Frodo left them, but didn't go to get drinks. Instead, he started a search for Sam. Finally, he found him. And yes, he was with Rosie Cotton! He walked right up to them.

"Hullo Frodo," Rosie smiled. "How are you?"

"Very well, thank you," Frodo smiled. "I was just, uh, wondering if I could talk to Sam for a moment?" Smiling, Rosie nodded and walked away. She had a feeling she knew what this conversation would be about, anyway.

"Now, look, Frodo," Sam muttered quickly before Frodo could even start. "I know what you're gonna say, but listen." He smiled, "Rosie said she didn't like Crystal following me around everywhere, so she asked if I would escort her to the party. And so I said that I would, but you know I really wanted to anyway. And when Crystal saw us together, she let me alone."

Frodo simply stared at him, a blank look on his face.

"And . . . I'm sorry, Frodo. But Rosie was jealous, and so I can't help you out tonight . . ."

Frodo took a deep breath and forced a smile. "Well, don't worry, it's alright. I'm glad you could come with Rosie. You two have fun," with that, he turned and walked away. He knew he had to get back to the twins before they got suspicious, so he hurried up and grabbed two drinks.

"That took a while," Crystal commented when she saw him coming their way.

"We were worried you got lost, or couldn't remember where we were," Sunny agreed. "Or, maybe you just wanted to get away from us."

Frodo smiled nervously as he handed them their drinks.

"Or maybe you, too, have a special someone that we don't know about," Crystal pouted. "Just like Sam did."

Frodo didn't like the tone of this conversation. "Would you like me to show you around?" he asked them kindly. He didn't want to do this, but he had no choice, "I'll introduce you around, I'm sure you'd like to meet some folks. I know a lot of the others have been asking who the pretty lasses are."

"Really?" Sunny grabbed on to his arm. "Oh, oh, I . . ." she gave him a huge hug. "You're one of the nicest lads I've ever met!"

"Other lads just try to get rid of us," Crystal agreed.

"Can you believe that?" Sunny asked incredulously.

Frodo just smiled politely and led them around. With these two by his side, this was going to be a long night!

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_The End_


End file.
